Hope Openshaw
Our PLANNING ADMINISTRATOR, was born in Torquay Bay, south Devon, England. She moved to France at the age of 8. Her Grandfather was Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Consett.
Christopher Darcy Preston Consett was born on December 6, 1910, in London, the son of Rear Admiral Montagu Consett, and educated at Eton College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.
He was commissioned in August, 1930, and served with the King’s Royal Rifle Corps at Tidworth in Wiltshire.
From 1934 to 1939, he served with the Somaliland Camel Corps in East Africa.
In 1939, he became a company commander with the 1st Battalion of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps, being promoted to second-in-command in 1941.
In 1941, he won the Distinguished Service Order (DSO), followed a year later by the Military Cross (MC).
His DSO was as a captain so it must have been something quite outstanding, but he was very shy about it.
His MC was as a colonel. It was in the retreat at Gazala in Egypt when Rommel was making a push.
Between May 1942, and January 1943 he commanded the regiment’s 1st Battalion in North Africa, and saw action at El Alamein.
From July, 1943, to March, 1944, he was second-in-command of the 11th Battalion in North Africa and Italy. He commanded the 2nd Battalion from December 1944 to July 1945.
He retired from military service in 1948 and farmed in the former Rhodesia and southern England. He retired to North Yorkshire in the mid-1980s.
